Abstract
Using a series of examples taken from fieldwork on socio-ecological change in the Ecuadorian Amazon, this chapter argues that, alongside its more conventional aims of data collection, textual representation and theoretical framing, ethnographic work also leads to a messy and collective generation of visceral, embodied knowledge in a spontaneous making of relations and connections. Usually disregarded, this kind of knowledge ought instead to be emphasised, valued and explored as integral to social research.
By focussing attention on field relations, I show how purposeful generation of superabundant ‘empirical data’ in fieldwork allows the flourishing of ‘another’ kind of knowledge, in unplanned conjunction with the researchers’ attempts at achieving their research objectives. Noting this knowledge overflow is also noting the way in which ethnography contributes to, and does not merely
extract from, the world(s) encountered. How valuable such a contribution ultimately is depends on ‘whose side we are on’.
By focussing attention on field relations, I show how purposeful generation of superabundant ‘empirical data’ in fieldwork allows the flourishing of ‘another’ kind of knowledge, in unplanned conjunction with the researchers’ attempts at achieving their research objectives. Noting this knowledge overflow is also noting the way in which ethnography contributes to, and does not merely
extract from, the world(s) encountered. How valuable such a contribution ultimately is depends on ‘whose side we are on’.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Messy Ethnographies in Action |
| Publication status | Published - 2018 |
Keywords
- Ethnography
- Amazon
- Ecuador
- IKIAM
- post-representational methods
- knowledge production
- green transition